The present invention relates to a device for operating a cashbox closure mechanism.
In particular, the invention relates to a device for the operation of a closure mechanism used to secure boxes containing groups of sheets, typically banknotes.
The invention finds application to advantage in machines for processing banknotes, the art field to which explicit reference is made in the following specification albeit implying no limitation in general scope.
It is well known that banks need to move notable amounts of paper money around on a daily basis, whether central banks by which new banknotes are issued, or trading banks through which the notes are circulated. To this end, banknotes are first sorted into groups and then, for the purposes of transport, put into boxes.
The boxes are of a conventional type consisting in a container, and a lid hinged either permanently or detachably to the container.
To ensure they can be transported without any risk of coming open accidentally, such boxes are provided with a positive or catch type closure mechanism.
Likewise by reason of the need to move notable quantities of banknotes around on a daily basis, the machines by which notes are checked, bundled and strapped have been improved over the years and rendered capable of processing the quantities in question at extremely high speed.
One drawback encountered in banknote processing machines of the type in question is attributable to the operations connected with opening and closing the boxes at the outfeed stations by way of which the groups of notes emerge, for example, from the strapper/bander. In effect, these operations have been performed hitherto by hand.
The drawback in question is the more noticeable when, as happens more and more frequently, boxes are directed at a particularly rapid rate to the outfeed stations from which the groups of banknotes emerge, so that any operation performed by hand will risk occasioning a sizeable reduction in the output capacity normally expected from the overall processing cycle.
The object of the present invention is to provide a device for operating the closure mechanism of a box containing groups of banknotes, such as will be capable of opening and closing the box with speed and precision while assuring a highly dependable end result.
The stated object is realized according to the invention in a device for operating the closure mechanism of a box containing groups of sheets, in particular banknotes, wherein the box comprises a container and a lid fastenable in the position by which the container is secured through the agency of a closure mechanism including at least one latch element by which a portion of the lid is connected to a retaining and locking element integral with the container and combining with the latch element to create a catch mechanism, characterized in that it comprises means of releasing the latch element, by which the selfsame latch element is disengaged at least in part from the container and from the lid; and restraining means acting on the latch element in such a way as to distance the selfsame latch element from the lid.